Roasts & Toasts: Good news, bad news

The Times-Standard
Posted: 11/29/2010 01:29:18 AM PST

Toast
* A toast to LeRoy Murrell of McKinleyville. He just keeps on giving. LeRoy has been giving at the blood bank for 23 years and last week he donated his 70th gallon of platelets. The 70-gallon mark is a rarity and a first locally.

Celebrating 23 years of donating: McKinleyville man gives 70th gallon of platelets at local blood bank

Allison White/The Times-Standard
Posted: 11/23/2010 01:15:18 AM PST

After about 560 trips to the Northern California Community Blood Bank, a McKinleyville man donated his 70th gallon of platelets on Monday.

That resident is LeRoy Murrell of McKinleyville Barber Shop, who has given to the blood bank for 23 years, visiting about every two weeks and averaging about 21 donations per year, said John Gullam, director of donor resources. The 70-gallon mark is a rarity and a first locally.

”There's probably not more than a couple dozen people nationwide that have given that much,” Gullam said.

Donors can give platelets weekly, as compared to whole blood donors who can only give every 56 days. One of the other major differences between the two types of donations is that while giving whole blood can take up to 30 minutes, giving platelets is a 90-minute to two-hour process, said JoAnna Leppek-Davis, donor recruiter.

Platelets are the part of the blood that causes it to clot, and donations of it are used for a variety of purposes, including to help heart patients, Leppek-Davis said. A whole blood donation is separated into its three parts after it is given -- platelets, red cells and plasma -- and the proportion of each is smaller than what is given during a platelet or plasma donation.

Having one donor give so much means a lot to the blood bank and to those who benefit from the donations.

”We see LeRoy on a regular basis, and we like it,” she said. “He's a very, very valuable donor.”

Murrell could not be reached before the Times-Standard deadline, but told the blood bank personnel that after 23 years of donations, “I'm not done yet.”

The reason the donation process takes longer is because blood is drawn from a donor through a tube and then spun through a centrifuge to separate the platelets from the rest of the blood, Leppek-Davis said. The other two parts of the blood are then put back into the donor.

In contrast, whole blood donations use gravity to collect about one pint of blood, and then it is later separated.

Staff writer Allison White can be reached at 441-0506 or awhite@times-standard.com.

Red alert: Northern California Community Blood Bank desperately seeks donors

Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
Posted: 08/24/2010 01:23:19 AM PDT

Ever want to save three lives at the same time without the peril of running into a burning building, diving into shark-infested waters or confronting a gun-toting madman?

If so, then the Northern California Community Blood Bank has an opportunity for you, and the time is now.

Citing a critical need of both blood and donors, the Blood Bank issued a call-to-arms of sorts this week, encouraging regulars and first-timers alike to come forward to donate.

”It's your perfect storm kind of thing,” said John Gullam, the bank's director of donor resources, of the bank's blood shortage, which has led the bank to import blood from outside the area to treat local patients in recent weeks.

Gullam said a confluence of factors has left the bank short, including a few local patients that have needed lots of blood recently, a downward trend in the bank's number of donors, a trend that has repeat donors giving blood less often and the always-lean summer months.

”Summer is always a tough time, and this summer has been no exception,” Gullam said, explaining that the Blood Bank depends heavily on drives at local high schools and colleges.

Those drives obviously aren't available in summer months, Gullam said, adding that many students also leave the area to return home or attend camps over the summer.

More troubling, however, are the long-term trends, Gullam said. He said the bank needs 3,000 new donors a year to make up for regular donors who are prevented from giving blood due to travel or illness. Last year, Gullam said, the bank only netted 2,400 new donors -- a pace the bank is matching this year.

Additionally, Gullam said the bank's donors used to average 2.5 donations a year -- an average that has fallen to below 2 in recent years.

Meanwhile, there has been no dip in demand for blood, which the bank now separates into three separate products, all of which save lives. For example, a single car accident victim can require up to 40 units of red blood cells; a cancer patient can receive 20 to 30 platelet units during chemotherapy to aid with clotting; and a liver transplant can require 20 combined units of red blood cells, platelets and plasma.

Ralph DuBois, of Fieldbrook, stopped by Wildberries Marketplace in Arcata Monday, where one of the Blood Bank's mobile units was parked for an afternoon drive. DuBois said he has donated blood for about 10 years, and said he simply does it because it makes him feel good.

”It's kind of a civic-duty thing,” DuBois said. “Someone's got to do it.”

DuBois said he also likes that giving blood makes him feel like the first of the community's first responders, as he responds to accidents and emergencies before they even occur.

Penny Powers, a registered nurse who works on the mobile unit, said donors come in for a wide variety of reasons. She said that some, like DuBois, see it as a way to make a difference. Others, she said, have had someone in their lives saved by a blood donation.

”Some people come in just to relax -- no kids, no dogs, no wives, no husbands -- it's just a quiet time for them to sit down and have something to eat,” Powers said.

With dipping numbers, Powers said the Blood Bank has gotten a bit more creative with its outreach, noting that it recently sent a bloodmobile out to the premier of “Twilight,” a popular new vampire movie, with the hopes of drawing some young, first-time donors.

While getting anyone in to donate even once is a good thing, Gullam said, the bank is most concerned with finding people who will come in, and keep coming back.

”One of the things we really want to impress upon people is that if they are only ever going to donate once, that's great and we'd love to see them, but what we'd really love to develop are long-term, regular donors,” he said.

Replenishing the Blood Bank's list of donors will ensure that local patients have access to all the blood they need, Gullam said, adding that it will also ensure the solvency of the Blood Bank itself, as the organization is reliant on the revenue it receives from sending blood to out-of-the-area hospitals.

When it comes to blood, Gullam said there is simply always a need.

”We'll need folks to donate two weeks from now, and two months from now, as well as right now,” he said, adding that the bank also has to keep large supplies on hand just in case. “Too much is just enough.”

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On the web:

For more information on the Northern California Community Blood Bank and bloodmobile schedules, visit http://www.nccbb.org.

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Thadeus Greenson can be reached at 441-0509 or tgreenson@times-standard.com.

Applebee's holds fundraiser for

local leukemia patient

Donna Tam/The Times-Standard

Posted: 02/01/2010 01:21:13 AM PST

The story of 19-year-old leukemia patient Kortney Williams -- and the family's quest for a suitable bone marrow donor - has prompted onelocal business to do what it can to ease their burden.

Eureka's Applebee's will donate 15 percent of its dinner proceeds from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday to help the Williams family with medical expenses.

They've totally stepped up and called us and put this thing together,” said father Matt Williams of Applebee's efforts to raise money.

The costs of leukemia treatment -- emotional, financial, and otherwise -- can be huge.

The family has had to travel to and from San Francisco every week for her treatments. She is currently in remission and the family is waiting for a bone marrow match as she continues treatment, Matt Williams said.

On Thursday, Kortney Williams will begin a month-long stay in San Francisco for treatment.

We just want to help the community,” said Applebee's Assistant General Manager Lindsay Datema. “It's super important to us.”

During the fundraiser, the Northern California Community Blood Bank plans to hold a blood and bone marrow drive in the Applebee's parking lot. The blood bank has held four drives in the last few months, hoping to find a match for Kortney Williams and others like her.

Because she is of Yurok descent, her family is hoping American Indians will continue to register, increasing Kortney Williams' chances of finding a match.